263 
CiDs 


I-NRLF 


SfiO 


CANADA 


AND   THE 


ONTINENTAL   CONGRESS, 


DELIVERED   BEFORE   THE 


HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 


AS   THEIR 


ANNUAL   ADDRESS, 


ON  THE  31sT  OF  JANUARY,  1850. 


BY 


WILLIAM  DUANE 


PHILADELPHIA: 

— •-        DWARD  GASKILL,  FIFTH  AND  WALNUT  STREETS. 
O  1850. 


CANADA 


AND    THE 


CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS, 


DELIVERED   BEFORE    THE 


HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 


AS    THEIR 


ANNUAL  ADDEESS, 

ON  THE  31sT  or  JANUARY,  1850. 


BY 


WILLIAM  DUANE 


PHILADELPHIA: 

EDWARD  GASKILL,  FIFTH  AND  WALNUT  STREETS. 
1850. 


&_THOMPSON, 
No.  7  Carter's  Allejr 


CANADA 


AND 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS. 


THE  treaty  of  1762  secured  to  England  that  vast  territory  which 
the  valour  of  Wolfe  and  his  companions  had  won.  France,  at  the 
same  time,  ceded  Louisiana  to  Spain,  and  thus  relinquished  all  her 
possessions  in  North  America,  and  with  them,  the  design,  so  long 
entertained  and  so  industriously  prosecuted,  of  erecting  in  the 
interior  of  the  continent  a  chain  of  possessions  capable  of  preventing 
the  western  growth  of  the  British  colonies. 

The  importance  of  their  acquisition  did  not  strike  the  minds  of 
all  the  people  of  England.  Whilst  the  treaty  was  in  discussion, 
the  government  was  urged  by  some  to  retain  Guadaloupe  in  place 
of  Canada.  It  would  seem  that  they  had  derived  their  opinion  of 
it  from  the  derivation  of  its  name  given  by  Hennepin,  whether 
correctly  or  not  is  questionable.  Speaking  of  its  Spanish  discoverers 
he  says,  that  "at  their  first  arrival  having  found  nothing  considerable 
in  it,  they  abandoned  the  country  and  called  it  //  Capo  di  Nada, 
that  is  the  Cape  of  Nothing.  Two  of  the  Burkes  wrote  a  pamphlet 
urging  the  government  to  prefer  acquisitions  in  the  West  Indies  to 
Canada.  Others  professed  to  see  something  desirable  in  Canada's 
being  kept  by  the  French,  as  it  would  prove  a  check  upon  the 
English  colonies ;  a  mild  term,  as  was  remarked  by  an  American 
then  in  England,  for  the  murdering  of  the  colonists.  Perhaps  such 
advisers  were  beginning  to  foresee  that  it  might  be  difficult  for 
England  to  retain  the  colonies  single-handed. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  province  seem  to  have  taken  their 
change  of  masters  very  quietly.  Simple  minded  and  primitive  in 
their  manners,  living  as  their  forefathers  had  done  and  desiring  no 
other  mode  of  existence,  they  seem  to  have  felt  but  little  the 
shifting  of  the  government  from  Paris  to  London.  The  good  will 


M180629 


of   their   priests   was   secured    by    granting   toleration    to   their 
religion. 

In  the  discontents  then  arising  among  their  new  fellow  subjects 
to  the  south,  the  Canadians  felt  scarcely  any  interest.  As  the 
great  bulk  of  them  had  no  hereditary  claim  to  the  rights  of 
Englishmen,  they  cared  little  for  their  being  assailed  among  their 
their  neighbours.  Besides,  the  colonists  of  the  British  provinces 
had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  subjugation  of  the  late  French 
provinces,  and  the  ill  feeling  thus  excited  had  not  ceased  with  the 
termination  of  the  war,  whilst  differences  of  religion,  language, 
and  manners  prevented  a  kindly  intercourse  between  the  two 
races.  It  is  said  that  the  Anglo-Americans  burnt  some  of  the 
Canadian  chapels,  a  mode  of  enlightening  men  respecting  their 
religious  errors  unhappily  not  confined  to  that  age,  and  as  ineffectual 
then  as  it  has  ever  proved. 

These  differences  were  not  unpleasing  to  the  British  government, 
which  entered  into  measures,  partly  conciliatory  and  partly 
restrictive,  to  deter  the  Canadians  from  uniting  with  the  other 
colonists  in  the  great  movement  then  commencing.  Still  more  to 
conciliate  the  priests,  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  was  made  the 
established  religion  of  the  country,  whilst  all  had  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  the  English  laws  abolished  and  those  of  France  restored. 
The  bounds  of  the  province  were  extended  by  annexation  to  the 
northward.  To  counterbalance  these  favours,  the  Canadian 
Assembly  was  abolished,  and  the  people  thus  deprived  of 
representatives  with  whom  the  other  colonies  might  communicate. 

In  September,  1774,  the  Continental  Congress  met  at 
Philadelphia.  In  the  succeeding  month  they  issued  an  address  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies  in  which  these  changes  in  Canada 
are  thus  referred  to : 

"  The  authors  of  this  arbitrary  arrangement  flatter  themselves 
that  the  inhabitants,  deprived  of  liberty,  and  artfully  provoked 
against  those  of  another  religion,  will  be  proper  instruments  for 
assisting  in  the  oppression  of  such  as  differ  from  them  in  modes  of 
government  and  faith." 

On  the  same  day  (October  21,  1774,)  the  Congress  resolved  that 
an  address  to  the  people  of  Canada  should  be  prepared,  and  Messrs. 
Gushing,  Lee,  and  Dickinson  were  appointed  a  Committee  to 
prepare  it.  The  address,  having  been  reported,  debated  upon,  and 
re-committed,  was  again  reported  on  the  20th  of  October,  and, 
after  debate  and  amendment,  adopted.  The  address  is  understood 
to  have  been  written  by  Mr.  Dickinson,  the  author  of  the  Farmer's 
Letters. 

Styling  the  people  of  Quebec  c<Friends  and  fellow  countrymen," 
and  having  enumerated  the  colonies  represented  in  the  Congress, 
and  declared  the  object  of  their  meeting  to  be  "  to  consult  together 


to  obtain  redress  of  our  afflicting  grievances,"  and  adding  that  they 
considered  their  province  as  a  member  deeply  interested  in  the 
state  of  public  affairs  on  this  continent,  the  address  proceeds  as 
follows : 

"  When  the  fortune  of  war,  after  a  gallant  and  glorious  resistance, 
had  incorporated  you  with  the  body  of  English  subjects,  we 
rejoiced  in  the  truly  valuable  addition,  both  on  our  own  and  your 
account;  expecting,  as  courage  and  generosity  are  naturally  united, 
our  enemies  would  become  our  hearty  friends,  and  that  the  Divine 
Being  would  bless  to  you  the  dispensations  of  his  over-ruling 
providence,  by  securing  to  you  and  your  latest  posterity  the 
inestimable  advantages  of  a  free  English  constitution  of  government, 
which  it  is  the  privilage  of  all  English  subjects  to  enjoy. 

'*  These  hopes  were  confirmed  by  the  King's  proclamation,  issued 
in  the  year  1763,  plighting  the  public  faith  for  your  full  enjoyment 
of  those  advantages." 

The  address  then  proceeds  to  detail  and  enlarge  upon  the  rights 
to  which  English  subjects  were  entitled,  namely,  the  right  of 
having  a  share  in  their  own  government  by  representatives  chosen 
by  themselves,  trial  by  jury,  the  liberty  of  the  person  secured  by 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  the  right  of  holding  lands  by  tenure  of 
easy  rents,  and  not  by  rigorous  and  oppressive  services,  and  lastly 
the  freedom  of  the  press. 

«  These  (continues  the  address)  are  the  invaluable  rights  that 
form  a  considerable  part  of  our  mild  system  of  government ;  that 
sending  its  equitable  energy  through  all  ranks  and  classes  of  men, 
defends  the  poor  from  the  rich,  the  weak  from  the  powerful,  the 
industrious  from  the  rapacious,  the  peaceable  from  the  violent,  the 
tenants  from  their  lords,  and  all  from  their  superiors. 

"  These  are  the  rights  without  which  a  people  cannot  be  free 
and  happy,  and  under  the  protecting  and  encouraging  influence  of 
which,  these  colonies  have  hitherto  so  amazingly  flourished  and 
increased.  These  are  rights  [which]  a  profligate  ministry  are  now 
striving  by  force  of  arms  to  ravish  from  us,  and  which  we  are, 
with  one  mind,  resolved  never  to  resign  but  with  our  lives. 

"  These  are  the  rights  you  are  entitled  to  and  ought  at  this 
moment  in  perfection  to  exercise." 

The  address  proceeds  to  shew  that  these  rights  had  not  been 
secured  to  the  Canadians,  and  that  the  favours  recently  shown 
them  were  more  specious  than  real,  and  the  enjoyment  of  these 
altogether  precarious.  "With  such  a  superlative  contempt  of  your 
understanding  and  spirit  has  an  insolent  ministry  presumed  to  think 
of  you,  our  respectable  fellow  subjects,  according  to  the  information 
we  have  received,  as  firmly  to  persuade  themselves  that  your 
gratitude,  for  the  injuries  and  insults  they  have  recently  offered 
you,  will  engage  you  to  take  up  arms  and  render  yourselves  the 


ridicule  and  detestation  of  the  world,  by  becoming  tools  in  their 
hands,  to  assist  them  in  taking  that  freedom  from  us  which  they 
have  threateningly  denied  to  you;  the  unavoidable  consequences 
of  which  attempt,  if  successful,  would  be  the  extinction  of  all 
hopes  of  you  or  your  posterity's  being  ever  restored  to  freedom  : 
for  idiocy  itself  cannot  believe  that,  when  their  drudgery  is 
performed,  they  will  treat  you  with  less  cruelty  than  they  have 
us  who  are  of  the  same  blood  with  themselves." 

After  quoting  the  opinions  of  Montesquieu  respecting  the  rights 
of  the  people  in  a  free  state,  the  address  asks  : 

u  What  advice  would  that  truly  great  man,  that  advocate  of 
liberty  and  humanity,  give  you,  was  he  now  living  and  knew  that 
we,  your  numerous  and  powerful  neighbours,  animated  by  a  just 
love  of  our  invaded  rights,  and  united  by  the  indissoluble  bonds  of 
affection  and  interest,  called  upon  you  by  every  obligation  of  regard 
for  yourselves  and  your  children,  as  we  now  do,  to  join  us  in  our 
rightful  contest,  to  make  common  cause  with  us  therein,  and  take 
a  noble  chance  for  emerging  from  a  humiliating  subjection  under 
governors,  intendants,  and  military  tyrants,  into  the  firm  rank  and 
condition  of  English  freemen,  whose  custom  it  is,  derived  from 
their  ancestors,  to  make  those  tremble  who  dare  to  think  of  making 
them  miserable? 

"Would  not  this  be  the  purport  of  his  address?  <  Seize  the 
opportunity  presented  to  you  by  Providence  itself.  You  have 
been  conquered  into  liberty,  if  you  act  as  you  ought.  This  work 
is  not  of  men.  You  are  a  small  people  compared  to  those  who  with 
open  arms  invite  you  into  a  fellowship.  A  moment's  reflection 
will  convince  you  which  will  be  most  for  your  interest  and 
happiness,  to  have  all  the  rest  of  North  America  your  unalterable 
friends  or  your  inveterate  enemies.  The  injuries  of  Boston  have 
roused  and  associated  every  colony  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Georgia. 
Your  province  is  the  only  link  wanting  to  complete  the  bright 
and  strong  chain  of  union.  Nature  has  joined  your  country  to 
theirs.  Do  you  join  jour  political  interests.  For  their  own  sakes 
they  never  will  desert  or  betray  you.  Be  assured  that  the 
happiness  of  a  people  inevitably  depends  on  their  liberty  arid  their 
spirit  to  assert  it.  The  value  and  extent  of  the  advantages  tendered 
to  you  are  immense.  Heaven  grant  that  you  may  not  discover  them 
to  be  blessings  after  they  have  bid  you  an  eternal  adieu.'" 

The  address  then  refers  to  the  difference  of  religion  between  the 
two  people,  but  reminds  them  of  the  Swiss  Cantons  as  furnishing 
proof  that  men  of  different  faiths  may  live  in  concord  and  peace 
together. 

For  what  ends  the  Congress  sought  the  co-operation  of  the 
Canadians  is  thus  specified.  "  We  do  not  ask  you  to  commence 
acts  of  hostility  against  the  government  of  our  common  sovereign. 


We  only  invite  you  to  consult  your  own  glory  and  welfare,  and 
not  to  suffer  yourselves  to  be  inveigled  or  intimidated  by  infamous 
ministers,  so  far  as  to  become  the  instruments  of  their  cruelty  and 
despotism ;  but  to  unite  with  us  in  the  social  compact,  formed  on 
the  generous  principles  of  equal  liberty,  and  cemented  by  such  an 
exchange  of  beneficial  and  endearing  offices,  as  to  render  it 
perpetual.  In  order  to  complete  this  highly  desirable  union,  we 
submit  it  to  your  consideration  whether  it  may  not  be  expedient 
for  you  to  meet  together  in  your  several  towns  and  districts  and 
elect  deputies,  who  afterwards  meeting  in  a  Provincial  Congress, 
may  choose  delegates  to  represent  your  Province  in  the  Continental 
Congress  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  10th  day  of  May, 
1775. 

"  In  this  present  Congress,  beginning  on  the  fifth  of  last  month, 
and  continued  to  this  day,  it  has  been  with  universal  pleasure  and 
an  unanimous  vote  resolved,  that  we  should  consider  the  violation 
of  your  rights,  by  the  act  for  altering  the  government  of  your 
Province,  as  a  violation  of  our  own,  and  that  you  should  be  invited 
to  accede  to  our  confederation,  which  has  no  other  objects  than 
the  perfect  security  of  the  natural  and  civil  rights  of  all  the 
constituent  members,  according  to  their  respective  circumstances, 
and  the  preservation  of  a  happy  and  lasting  connection  with  Great 
Britain,  on  the  salutary  and  constitutional  principles  hereinbefore 
mentioned.  For  affecting  these  purposes  we  have  addressed  an 
humble  and  loyal  petition  to  his  majesty,  praying  relief  of  our  and 
your  grievances ;  and  have  associated  to  stop  all  importations  from 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  after  the  first  day  of  December,  and  all 
exportations  to  those  kingdoms  and  the  West  Indies  after  the  tenth 
of  next  September  :  unless  the  said  grievances  are  redressed. 

"  That  Almighty  God  may  incline  your  minds  to  approve  our 
equitable  and  necessary  measures,  to  add  yourselves  to  us,  to  put 
your  fate,  whenever  you  suffer  injuries  which  you  are  determined 
to  oppose,  not  on  the  small  influence  of  your  single  Province,  but 
on  the  consolidated  powers  of  North  America  ;  and  may  grant  to 
our  joint  exertions  an  event  as  happy  as  our  cause  is  just,  is  the 
fervent  prayer  of  your  sincere  and  affectionate  friends  and  fellow 
subjects." 

The  Address  was  signed  by  Henry  Middleton,  of  North  Carolina, 
the  President,  at  that  time,  of  the  Congress. 

The  delegates  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania  were  appointed 
to  superintend  the  translating,  printing,  publishing,  and  distributing 
of  the  address,  and  the  Congress  recommended  to  the  delegates  from 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  New  York,  to  assist  in 
having  it  circulated. 

On  the  llth  of  May,  1775,  the  Congress  re-assembled,  meeting 
in  the  State  House.  The  state  of  affairs  had  very  materially 


changed  since  their  adjournment.  Blood  had  been  shed  at 
Lexington,  and  men,  finding  the  inutility  of  Petitions  and 
Remonstrances,  were  gradually  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  an 
appeal  to  arms  was  all  that  was  left  them. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  the  same  month,  the  Congress,  having 
been  informed  that  there  was  a  gentleman  in  town  who  could 
"give  a  full  and  just  account  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Canada," 
directed  him  to  be  introduced,  which  was  done.  What  was  his 
name  and  what  the  substance  of  his  information  is  not  mentioned 
in  the  journal  j  possibly  from  motives  of  prudence.  Two  days 
afterwards  another  address,  entitled,  "  To  the  oppressed  inhabitants 
of  Canada,"  brought  in  by  a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Jay, 
Samuel  Adams,  and  Deane,  was  adopted  by  Congress,  and  ordered 
to  be  translated  into  the  French  language  and  circulated.  After 
referring  to  the  former  address  as  having  been  dictated  by  a  sense 
of  common  danger,  that  now  issued  proceeds  as  follows : 

"  We  most  sincerely  condole  with  you  on  the  arrival  of  that 
day  in  the  course  of  which  the  suri  could  not  shine  on  a  single 
freeman  in  all  your  extensive  dominions.  Be  assured  that  your 
unmerited  degradation  has  engaged  the  most  unfeigned  pity  of 
your  sister  colonies ;  and  we  flatter  ourselves  you  will  not,  by 
tamely  bearing  the  yoke,  suffer  that  pity  to  be  supplanted  by 
contempt. 

61  When  lordly  attempts  are  made  to  deprive  men  of  rights 
bestowed  by  the  Almighty,  when  avenues  are  cut  through  the 
most  solemn  compacts,  for  the  admission  of  despotism,  when  the 
plighted  faith  of  government  ceases  to  give  security  to  dutiful 
subjects,  and  when  the  insidious  stratagems  and  manoeuvres  of 
peace  become  more  terrible  than  the  sanguinary  operations  of  war, 
it  is  high  time  for  them  to  assert  those  rights,  and  with  honest 
indignation  oppose  the  torrent  of  oppression  rushing  in  upon 
them." 

The  political  situation  of  the  Canadians  is  thus  pictured  : 

"  By  the  introduction  of  your  present  form  of  government,  or 
rather  present  form  of  tyranny,  you  and  your  wives  and  your 
children  are  made  slaves.  You  have  nothing  that  you  can  call 
your  own,  and  all  the  fruits  of  your  labour  and  your  industry  may 
be  taken  from  you  whenever  an  avaricious  governor  and  a 
rapacious  council  may  incline  to  demand  them.  You  are  liable 
by  their  edicts  to  be  transported  into  foreign  countries  to  fight 
battles  in  which  you  have  no  interest,  and  to  spill  your  blood  in 
conflicts  from  which  neither  honour  nor  emolument  can  be  derived. 
Nay,  the  enjoyment  of  your  very  religion  on  the  present  system 
depends  on  a  legislature  in  which  you  have  no  share,  and  over 
which  you  have  no  control ;  and  your  priests  are  exposed  to 
expulsion,  banishment  and  ruin,  whenever  their  wealth  and 


possessions  furnish  sufficient  temptation.  They  cannot  be  sure 
that  a  virtuous  prince  will  always  fill  the  throne,  and  should  a 
wicked  or  careless  king  concur  with  a  wicked  ministry  in 
extracting  the  treasure  and  strength  of  your  country,  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive  to  what  variety  and  to  what  extremes  of 
wretchedness  you  may  under  the  present  establishment  be 
reduced." 

It  is  worth  noting,  this  reference  to  "  a  virtuous  king."  Was  it 
one  of  the  last  efforts  of  expiring  royalty,  or  really  a  refined  irony? 
In  another  year  the  Congress  spoke  of  George  III.  in  language 
altogether  unequivocal. 

"  We  are  informed  (continues  the  address)  that  you  have  been 
already  called  upon  to  waste  your  li^es  in  a  contest  with  us. 
Should  you  by  complying  in  this  instance  assent  to  your  new 
establishment,  and  a  war  break  out  with  France,  your  wealth  and 
your  sons  may  be  sent  to  perish  in  expeditions  against  their  islands 
in  the  West  Indies.  It  cannot  be  presumed  that  these  considerations 
have  no  weight  with  you,  or  that  you  are  so  lost  to  all  sense  of 
honour.  We  can  never  believe  that  the  present  race  of  Canadians 
are  so  degenerate  as  to  possess  neither  the  spirit,  the  gallantry,  nor 
the  courage  of  their  ancestors.  You  certainly  will  not  permit  the 
infamy  and  disgrace  of  such  pusillanimity  to  rest  on  your  own 
heads,  and  the  consequences  of  it  on  your  children  forever? 

"  We,  for  our  parts,  are  determined  to  live  free  or  not  at  all, 
and  are  resolved  that  posterity  shall  never  reproach  us  with  having 
brought  slaves  into  the  world. 

"  Permit  us  again  to  repeat  that  we  are  your  friends,  not  your 
enemies,  and  be  not  imposed  upon  by  those  who  may  endeavour 
to  create  animosities.  The  taking  of  the  fort  and  military  stores 
at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  and  the  armed  vessels  on  the 
lake,  was  dictated  by  the  great  law  of  self  preservation.  They 
were  intended  to  annoy  us  and  to  cut  off  that  friendly  intercourse 
which  has  hitherto  subsisted  between  you  and  us.  We  hope  it 
has  given  you  no  uneasiness,  and  you  may  rely  upon  our  assurance 
that  the  colonies  will  pursue  no  measures  whatever  but  such  as 
friendship  and  a  regard  for  our  mutual  safety  and  interest  may 
suggest. 

"As  our  concern  for  your  welfare  entitles  us  to  your  friendship, 
we  presume  you  will  not  by  doing  us  injury  reduce  us  to  the 
disagreeable  necessity  of  treating  you  as  enemies. 

"  We  yet  entertain  hopes  of  your  uniting  with  us  in  the  defense 
of  our  common  liberty,  and  there  is  yet  reason  to  believe  that 
should  we  join  in  imploring  the  attention  of  our  sovereign  to  the 
unmerited  and  unparalleled  oppression  of  American  subjects,  he 
will  at  length  be  undeceived,  and  forbid  a  licentious  ministry  any 
longer  to  riot  in  the  ruins  of  the  rights  of  mankind." 

2 


10 

As  a  further  evidence  of  their  pacific  designs  towards  the 
Canadians,  the  Congress  on  the  first  of  June,  1775,  Resolved,  That 
as  they  "  had  nothing  more  in  view  than  the  defense  of  the 
colonies,"  "  no  expedition  or  incursion  ought  to  be  undertaken  or 
made  by  any  colony  or  body  of  colonies  against  or  into  Canada, 
and  that  this  resolve  be  immediately  transmitted  to  the  commander 
of  the  forces  at  Ticonderoga,"  and  further  that  this  '«  resolve  be 
translated  into  the  French  language  and  transmitted  with  the  letter 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Canada." 

The  capture  of  Ticonderoga  had  been  planned  by  a  few  gentlemen 
in  Connecticut,  who  entrusted  its  execution  to  the  celebrated  Ethan 
Allen,  of  Vermont.  Its  capture  was  affected  by  less  than  three 
hundred  men,  and  the  commander  was  surprised  in  bed  and 
summoned  to  surrender  "  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jehovah,  and 
the  Continental  Congress."  That  this  capture  and  that  of  Crown 
Point  which  shortly  afterwards  followed,  had  been  intended  as 
measures  of  precaution  and  as  indispensable  to  maintaining  a 
communication  with  the  Canadians,  may  be  very  true,  but 
circumstances  soon  led  to  more  decided  steps.  The  Addresses  of 
the  Congress,  however  eloquent  and  conclusive,  made  but  little 
impression  upon  a  people,  scarcely  any  of  whom  could  read.  The 
presence  of  an  armed  force  was  deemed  likely  to  have  an  effect 
upon  the  Canadians  favourable  to  the  Continental  cause,  especially 
if  that  force  should  prove  triumphant.  Accordingly,  about  three 
months  after  the  adoption  of  the  resolution  against  any  invasion  of 
Canada,  two  were  undertaken,  one  under  Montgomery,  who 
advanced  by  way  of  St.  John's  upon  the  St.  Lawrence  river;  the 
other  under  Arnold,  (who  had  shared  in  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga) 
by  the  Kennebec,  and  what  was  then  an  unbroken  wilderness 
between  its  sources  and  those  of  the  tributaries  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
Of  this  latter  expedition  it  is  unnecessary  here  to  speak,  our  society 
having  not  long  since  presented  to  the  reading  world  a  most 
valuable  contribution  to  history  in  the  journal  of  Dr.  Senter,  who 
accompanied  this  heroic  band  as  surgeon.  Of  the  doings  of  the 
army  under  Montgomery  some  details  are  necessary.  St.  John's 
was  the  first  British  post  attacked,  but  the  great  scarcity  of  powder 
prevented  its  capture.  To  secure  a  supply,  Chamblee,  a  fort 
about  six  miles  from  St.  John's,  was  reduced,  and  its  artillery  and 
powder  carried  off  and  used  in  the  siege  of  the  latter.  An  attempt 
to  repel  them  made  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Carlton,  proved 
unsuccessful,  and  the  fort  fell  into  the  possession  of  the  Americans. 
A  large  supply  of  cannons,  mortars  and  powder  rewarded  the 
victors,  whose  prisoners  numbered  five  hundred. 

Montreal  submitted  to  them  without  resistance  about  the  middle 
of  November.  This,  with  the  subsequent  capture  of  a  number  of 
boats  in  the  river,  gave  them  a  full  supply  of  ammunition  and 


11 

clothing.  Meanwhile,  the  party  under  Arnold,  or  rather  that  part 
of  it  which  had  successfully  overcome  difficulties  before  which  a 
*arge  portion  of  the  expedition  shrunk  back  appalled,  reached  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  inhabitants,  appeared 
before  Quebec.  Here,  however,  the  want  of  artillery  reduced 
him  to  inaction. 

Leaving  Montreal,  Montgomery  hastened  to  join  Arnold  in 
front  of  Quebec,  then  the  capital  of  the  province.  Preparations 
were  made  to  assail  the  city,  which,  with  equal  zeal,  was  put  in.  a 
state  of  defence  by  Carlton.  The  works  of  the  invaders  were 
constructed  of  snow  rendered  solid  by  water,  but  the  cannon  in 
their  possession  proved  too  light  to  be  effective,  and  the  siege  was 
soon  but  languishingly  prosecuted.  This  did  not  suit  Montgomery, 
and  a  council  of  war  was  held,  which  agreed  to  his  proposition  for 
an  assault.  This  was  attempted  in  two  divisions,  one  under  the 
commander  in  chief,  the  other  under  Arnold.  About  one  hundred 
of  the  assailants  were  slain,  among  whom  was  Montgomery. 
Arnold  received  a  ball  in  his  leg,  his  most  honorable  wound.  The 
American  prisoners  amounted  to  about  three  hundred,  a  number 
that  the  invading  army  could  ill  spare. 

The  remnant  under  Arnold,  who  succeeded  to  the  command, 
were  withdrawn  to  a  spot  about  three  miles  from  the  city,  and 
posted  as  advantageously  as  possible  for  maintaining  the  blockade. 
To  the  sufferings  incident  to  a  Canadian  winter,  the  ravages  of 
disease  were  now  added  :  the  small  pox  broke  out  among  them 
with  great  violence. 

Montgomery  fell  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1775.  How  soon 
the  news  of  this  fatal  event  reached  the  Congress,  we  cannot  say, 
but  it  must  have  been  several  weeks  afterwards.  On  the  8th  of 
January,  1776,  the  Congress  resolved  that  ship  builders  should  be 
sent  immediately  from  New  York  and  Philadelphia  to  General 
Schuyler  or  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  forces  at  Ticonderoga, 
to  be  employed  in  constructing  a  number  of  batteaux,  not  exceeding 
one  hundred,  for  transporting  troops  and  their  baggage  into  Canada 
whenever  necessary. 

On  the  same  day  they  ordered  a  battalion  of  Canadians  to  be 
raised,  under  the  command  of  James  Livingston,  and  that  nine 
battalions,  this  included,  should  be  maintained  during  the  year  for 
the  defense  of  Canada.  The  First  Pennsylvania  Battalion,  Colonel 
Ball,  and  the  Second  New  Jersey  Battalion,  Colonel  Maxwell, 
were  selected  as  part  of  the  force,  and  ordered  to  march  immediately 
to  Albany,  and  put  themselves  under  the  command  of  General 
Schuyler.  To  complete  the  number  proposed,  a  battalion  was 
ordered  to  be  raised  in  New  Hampshire,  one  in  Connecticut,  and 
one  in  New  York;  two  were  ordered  to  be  formed  out  of  the 
troops  then  in  Canada,  proper  officers  for  which  were  to  be 


12 

recommended  by  Gen.  Montgomery,  and  one  of  the  five  new 
regiments  shortly  before  ordered  to  be  raised  in  Pennsylvania  was 
to  be  the  ninth. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  January  it  was  resolved  that  the  American 
army  in  Canada  be  reinforced  with  all  proper  despatch  as  well  for 
the  security  and  relief  of  our  friends  there,  as  for  better  securing 
the  rights  and  liberties  not  only  of  that  colony  but  the  other  united 
colonies. 

An  express  was  ordered  to  be  sent  to  the  Committee  of  Safety 
of  JNew  Jersey,  and  an  application  to  be  made  to  that  of 
Pennsylvania  immediately,  to  quicken  the  officers  employed  in 
levying  the  forces  directed  to  be  raised  in  those  colonies  and 
marched  to  Canada.  The  troops  were  ordered  to  be  forwarded  in 
companies  with  the  greatest  expedition. 

The  Congress  meanwhile  had  resolved  to  send  Commissioners  to 
Canada,  and  on  the  20th  of  March,  1776,  their  instructions  having 
been  duly  debated,  were  adopted  as  follows : 

"GENTLEMEN  : — You  are  with  all  convenient  despatch  to  repair 
to  Canada  and  make  known  to  the  people  of  that  country  the 
wishes  and  intentions  of  the  Congress  in  respect  to  them. 

"  Represent  to  them  that  the  arms  of  the  United  Colonies  having 
been  carried  into  that  Province  for  the  purpose  of  frustrating  the 
designs  of  the  British  Court  against  our  common  liberties,  we 
expect  to  defeat  not  only  the  hostile  machinations  of  Governor 
Carlton  against  us,  but  we  shall  put  into  the  power  of  our  Canadian 
brethren  to  pursue  such  measures  for  their  own  freedom  and 
happiness  as  a  generous  love  of  liberty  and  sound  policy  shall 
dictate  to  them. 

"  Inform  them  that  in  our  judgment  their  interests  and  ours  are 
inseparably  united;  that  it  is  impossible  we  can  be  reduced  to  a 
servile  submission  to  Great  Britain  without  their  sharing  our  fate  ; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  shall  obtain,  as  we  doubt  not  we  shall, 
a  full  establishment  of  our  rights,  it  depends  wholly  on  their 
choice  whether  they  will  participate  with  us  in  those  blessings  or 
still  remain  subject  to  every  act  of  tyranny  which  British  ministers 
shall  please  to  exercise  over  them.  Urge  all  such  arguments  as 
your  prudence  shall  suggest,  to  enforce  our  opinion  concerning 
the  mutual  interests  of  the  two  countries,  and  to  convince  them  of 
the  impossibility  of  the  war's  being  concluded  to  the  disadvantage 
of  the  colonies  if  we  wisely  and  vigorously  co-operate  with  each 
other. 

"  To  convince  them  of  the  uprightness  of  our  intentions  towards 
them,  you  are  to  declare  that  it  is  our  inclination  that  the  people 
of  Canada  may  set  up  such  a  form  of  government  as  will  be  most 
likely,  in  their  judgment,  to  produce  their  happiness  :  and  you 
are  in  the  strongest  terms  to  assure  them  that  it  is  our  earnest 


13 

desire  to  adopt  them  into  our  union  as  a  sister  colony,  and  to 
secure  the  same  general  system  of  mild  and  equal  laws  for  them 
and  for  ourselves,  with  only  such  local  differences  as  may  be 
agreeable  to  each  colony  respectively. 

u  Assure  the  people  of  Canada  that  we  have  no  apprehension 
that  the  French  will  take  any  active  part  with  Great  Britain  ;  but 
that  it  is  their  interest,  and  we  have  reason  to  believe  their 
inclination,  to  cultivate  a  friendly  intercourse  with  these  colonies. 

"  You  are  from  this  and  from  such  other  reasons  as  may  appear 
most  proper,  to  urge  the  necessity  the  people  are  under  of 
immediately  taking  some  decisive  step  to  put  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  the  United  Colonies.  For  expediting  such  a  measure 
you  are  to  explain  our  method  of  collecting  the  sense  of  the  people 
and  conducting  our  affairs  regularly  by  Committees  of  Observation 
and  Inspection  in  the  several  districts,  and  by  Conventions  and 
Committees  of  Safety  in  the  several  colonies.  Recommend  these 
modes  to  them.  Explain  to  -them  the  nature  and  principles  of 
government  among  freemen  ;  developing  in  contrast  to  those,  the 
base,  cruel,  and  insidious  designs  involved  in  the  late  Act  of 
Parliament  for  making  a  more  effectual  provision  for  the  government 
of  the  Province  of  Quebec.  Endeavour  to  stimulate  them  by 
notions  of  glory  as  well  as  interest,  to  assume  a  part  in  a  contest 
by  which  they  must  be  deeply  affected;  and  to  aspire  to  a  portion 
©f  that  power  by  which  they  must  be  ruled  ;  and  not  to  remain 
the  mere  spoil  and  prey  of  conquerors  and  lords. 

"  You  are  further  to  declare  that  we  hold  sacred  the  rights  of 
conscience,  and  may  promise  to  the  whole  people  solemnly  in  our 
name,  the  free  and  uninterrupted  exercise  of  their  religion,  and  to 
the  clergy  the  full,  perfect,  and  peaceable  possession  and  enjoyment 
of  all  their  estates ;  that  the  government  of  every  thing  relating  to 
their  religion  and  clergy  shall  be  left  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
good  people  of  that  Province,  and  such  legislation  as  they  shall 
constitute,  provided,  however,  that  all  other  denominations  of 
Christians  be  equally  entitled  to  hold  offices  and  enjoy  civil 
privileges  and  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  and  be  totally 
exempt  from  the  payment  of  any  tithec  or  taxes  for  the  support  of 
any  religion. 

"  Inform  them  that  you  are  vested  with  full  powers  to  effect  these 
purposes ;  and  therefore  press  them  to  have  a  full  representation 
of  thespeople  assembled  in  convention  with  all  proper  expedition, 
to  deliberate  concerning  the  establishment  of  a  form  of  government 
and  an  union  with  the  United  Colonies,  As  to  the  terms  of  union, 
insist  on  the  propriety  of  their  being  similar  to  those  on  which 
the  other  colonies  unite.  Should  they  object  to  this,  report  to  this 
Congress  the  objections,  and  the  terms  on  which  alone  they  will 
come  into  our  union.  Should  they  agree  to  our  terms,  you  are  to 


14 

promise  in  the  name  of  the  United  Colonies,  that  we  will  defend 
and  protect  the  people  of  Canada  against  all  enemies  in  the  same 
manner  that  we  will  defend  and  protect  any  of  the  United  Colonies. 

"  You  are  to  establish  a  free  press,  and  to  give  directions  for  the 
frequent  publication  of  such  pieces  as  may  be  of  service  to  the 
cause  of  the  United  Colonies. 

"  You  are  to  settle  all  disputes  between  the  Canadians  and  the 
Continental  troops,  and  to  make  such  regulations  relating  thereto 
as  you  shall  judge  proper. 

"  In  reforming  any  abuses  you  may  observe  in  Canada,  and 
enforcing  regulations  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  good  order 
there,  and  composing  differences  between  the  troops  of  the 
United  States  and  the  Canadians,  all  officers  and  soldiers  are 
required  to  yield  obedience  to  you  ;  and  to  enforce  the  decisions 
that  you  or  any  two  of  you  may  make,  you  are  empowered  to 
suspend  any  military  officer  from  the  execution  of  his  commission, 
till  the  pleasure  of  Congress  shall  be  known,  if  you  or  any  two  of 
you  shall  think  it  expedient. 

"You  are  also  empowered  to  sit  and  vote  as  members  of  councils 
of  war,  in  directing  fortifications  and  defences  to  be  made  or  to  be 
demolished,  by  land  or  by  water;  and  to  draw  orders  on  the 
President  for  any  sums  of  money  not  exceeding  $100,000  in  the 
whole  for  the  expense  of  the  works. 

"  Lastly,  you  are  by  all  the  means  you  can  use  to  promote  the 
execution  of  the  resolutions  now  made  or  hereafter  to  be  made  in 
Congress." 

To  these  instructions  the  following  were  on  motion  added  : 

"  You  are  also  directed  and  authorised  to  assure  the  inhabitants 
of  Canada  that  their  commerce  with  foreign  nations  shall  in  all 
respects  be  put  upon  an  equal  footing  with,  and  encouraged  and 
protected  in  the  same  manner  as  the  trade  of  the  United  Colonies. 

"You  are  also  directed  to  use  every  wise  and  prudent  measure 
to  introduce  and  give  credit  arid  circulation  to  the  Continental 
money  in  Canada. 

"In  case  the  former  resolution  of  Congress  respecting  the 
English  American  troops  in  Canada  has  not  been  carried  into 
effect,  you  are  directed  to  use  your  best  endeavours  for  forming  a 
battalion  of  the  New  York  troops  in  that  country,  and  to  appoint 
the  field  and  other  officers  out  of  the  gentlemen  who  have  continued 
there  during  the  campaign,  according  to  their  respective  ranks  and 
merit.  And  if  it  should  be  found  impracticable,  you  are  to  direct 
such  of  them  as  are  provided  for  in  the  four  battalions  now  raising 
in  New  York,  to  repair  to  their  respective  corps.  To  enable  you 
to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect,  you  are  furnished  with  blank 
commissions  signed  by  the  President." 

The  draft  of  the    commission  was  then    adopted.    The  three 


15 

Commissioners  were  Benjamin  Franklin,  a  delegate  to  the  Congress 
from  Pennsylvania,  Samuel  Chase,  one  of  the  delegates  from 
Maryland,  and  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  in  Maryland, 
subsequently  also  a  delegate.  The  various  titles  of  the  delegates 
were  somewhat  ostentatiously  set  forth,  but  this  may  have  been 
intended  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  those  to  whom  they  were  sent. 

The  Commissioners  were  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  John  Carroll 
of  Maryland,  a  Roman  Catholic  clergyman,  who  subsequently 
became  Archbishop  of  Baltimore.  They  left  Philadelphia  in  the 
latter  part  of  March,  1776,  New  York  on  the  second  of  April, 
ascending  the  Hudson  in  a  sloop,  and  did  not  reach  Montreal 
until  the  twenty-ninth  of  the  month,  the  distance  being  about  four 
hundred  miles;  which,  as  the  editor  of  Charles  Carroll's  journal 
of  the  expedition  notes,  is  now  performed  in  two  days.  This 
journey  was  not  one  then  that  would  be  selected  for  a  pleasure  trip. 
Great  part  of  the  country  through  which  they  passed  was  then  a 
wilderness,  and  they  had  to  struggle  through  the  snow  and  ice 
attendant  upon  a  Canadian  spring.  Tents  made  of  brush-wood 
were  occasionally  their  resting  places.  Two  days  spent  with 
General  Schuyler  at  Albany  appear  to  have  been  the  pleasantest 
part  of  their  journey,  and  the  charms  of  his  "daughters,  (Betsy  and 
Peggy)  lively,  agreeable,  black  eyed  girls,"  are  duly  chronicled. 
The  former  of  these  ladies  still  survives, — the  widow  of  Alexander 
Hamilton. 

On  reaching  Montreal,  we  were  u  received  (says  Charles  Carroll 
in  his  Journal)  by  General  Arnold  on  our  landing,  in  the  most 
polite  and  friendly  manner  ;  conducted  to  head  quarters,  where  a 
genteel  company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  had  assembled  to  welcome 
our  arrival.  As  we  went  from  the  landing  place  to  the  General's 
house,  the  cannon  of  the  citadal  fired  a  compliment  to  us  as  the 
Commissioners  of  Congress.  We  supped  at  that  General's,  and 
after  supper  were  conducted  by  the  General  and  other  gentlemen 
to  our  lodgings — the  house  of  Mr.  Thomas  Walker — the  best  built 
and  perhaps  the  best  furnished  house  in  this  town." 

The  Commissioners  made  but  little  impression  upon  the 
Canadians.  There  had  been  some  small  show  of  a  party  in  favour 
of  union  with  the  other  Colonies  while  the  Americans  were 
successful,  but  since  the  fall  of  Montgomery  the  cause  of  the 
invaders  had  come  to  a  stand.  On  the  llth  of  May,  Dr.  Franklin, 
whose  health  had  been  much  impaired  by  the  journey,  and  who 
saw  clearly  the  hopelessness  of  their  mission,  set  out  to  return  to 
Congress.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Carroll  accompanied  him,  and  the 
kindness  displayed  by  him  during  the  journey  was  not  forgotten. 
Through  Franklin's  recommendation  whilst  minister  at  the  Court  of 
France,  Mr.  Carroll  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy  in  the  United  States,  which  opened  the  way  to  his 


16 

subsequent   promotion  to  the  Archepiscopate.      His   virtues  and 
learning  did  honour  to  the  office. 

The  Congress  spared  no  efforts  to  maintain  the  ground  that  had 
been  gained  in  Canada.  A  Committee  of  Congress  was  appointed 
to  consult  with  Generals  Washington,  Green  and  Mifflin,  upon  the 
recommendation  of  which  committee  it  was  resolved  (May  24, 
1776,)  "that  the  commanding  officer  in  Canada  be  informed  that 
Congress  is  fully  convinced  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  keeping 
possession  of  that  country,  and  that  they  expect'that  the  forces  in 
that  department  will  contest  every  foot  of  ground  with  the  enemies 
of  these  colonies ;  and  as  Congress  have  in  view  the  cutting  off 
[of]  all  communication  between  the  upper  country  and  the  enemy, 
they  judge  it  highly  necessary  that  the  exertions  of  the  forces  be 
particulary  made  in  the  St.  Lawrence  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Sorell." 

The  army  unfortunately  was  not  in  a  condition  to  make  much 
exertion  anywhere.  The  forces  in  front  of  Quebec  amounted  to 
about  three  thousand  men,  but  more  than  two  thousand  were 
suffering  under  the  ravages  of  the  small  pox. 

On  the  sixth  of  May,  some  vessels  with  reinforcements  for  the 
British  army  reached  Quebec,  whereupon  the  Americans 
commenced  a  retreat.  The  greater  part  of  the  military  stores  and 
all  the  sick  were  left  behind.  The  retiring  army  halted  at  a  place 
called  the  Cedars,  about  forty  miles  above  Quebec,  where  they 
were  reinforced.  Th^ir  commander,  General  Thomas,  here  died 
of  the  small  pox,  and  was  succeeded  by  General  Thompson,  who 
was  soon  after  taken  prisoner  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  made  to 
surprise  a  division  of  the  British  army  lying  at  Three  Rivers. 
General  Sullivan  took  command  and  ordered  a  retreat  to  Montreal. 
He  conducted  the  movement  in  a  very  creditable  manner,  bringing 
off  all  the  baggage  and  public  stores,  and  even  all  the  sick. 

The  letter  ~ from  the  Commissioners  to  the  Congress  dated 
Montreal,  May  27th,  being  the  last  which  they  wrote,  gives  a 
melancholy  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  army  of  invasion.  They 
say,  "  We  went  to  the  mouth  of  the  Screl  last  week  where  we 
found  all  things  in  confusion  ;  there  is  little  or  no  discipline  among 
your  troops,  nor  can  any  be  kept  up  while  the  practice  of  enlisting 
for  a  twelvemonth  continues;  the  general  officers  are  all  of  this 
opinion.  Your  army  is  badly  paid,  and  so  exhausted  is  your  credit 
that  even  a  cart  cannot  be  procured  without  ready  money  or 
force.  The  army  is  in  a  distressed  condition,  and  is  in  want  of  the 
most  necessary  articles — meat,  bread,  tents,  shoes,  stockings,  shirts, 
&c.  The  greatest  part  of  those  that  fled  from  Quebec  left  all  their 
baggage  behind  them,  or  it  was  plundered  by  those  whose  times 
were  out.  Your  army  in  Canada  does  hot  exceed  four  thousand  ; 
above  four  hundred  are  sick  with  different  disorders,  three  fourths 


17 

of  the  army  have  not  had  the  small  pox.  The  greater  part  of 
Greaton's,  Bond's,  and  Burrell's  regiments  have  been  lately 
innoculated.  There  are  about  eight  tons  of  gunpowder  in  the 
colony.  To  evince  the  great  distress  we  are  reduced  to  for  the 
want  of  bread,  we  must  inform  you  that  we  were  obliged  to  buy 
thirty  loaves  of  bread  of  our  baker  to  feed  Col.  De  Haas's 
detachment,  which  entered  this  town  Friday  night  on  their  way 
to  join  General  Arnold  at  La,  C/iine,  and  who  could  not  be  supplied 
by  the  Commissary.  Such  is  our  extreme  want  of  flour  that  we 
were  yesterday  obliged  to  seize  by  force  fifteen  barrels  to  supply 
this  garrison  with  bread.  Previous  to  this  seizure  a  general  order 
was  issued  to  the  town  major  to  wait  on  the  merchants  or  others 
having  provisions  or  merchandise  for  sale,  requesting  a  delivery  of 
what  our  troops  are  in  immediate  want  of,  and  requiring  him  to 
give  a  receipt  expressing  the  quantity  delivered  ;  for  the  payment 
of  which  the  faith  of  the  United  colonies  is  pledged  by  your 
Commissioners.  Nothing  but  the  most  urgent  necessity  can  justify 
such  harsh  measures :  but  men  with  arms  in  their  hands  will  not 
starve  when  provisions  can  be  obtained  by  force.  To  prevent  a 
general  plunder  which  might  end  in  the  massacre  of  your  troops, 
and  of  many  of  the  inhabitants,  we  have  been  constrained  to  advise 
the  general  to  take  this  step.  We  cannot  conceal  our  concern  that 
six  thousand  men  should  be  ordered  to  Canada,  without  taking 
care  to  have  magazines  formed  for  their  subsistence,  cash  to  pay 
them  or  to  pay  the  inhabitants  for  their  labour,  in  transporting  the 
baggage,  stores,  and  provisions  of  the  army.  We  cannot  find 
words  strong  enough  to  express  our  miserable  situation ;  you  will 
have  a  faint  idea  of  it,  if  you  figure  to  yourselves  an  army  broken 
and  disheartened,  half  of  it  under  innoculation  or  other  diseases  • 
soldiers  without  pay,  without  discipline,  and  altogether  reduced  to 
live  from  hand  to  mouth,  depending  on  the  scanty  and  precarious 
supplies  of  a  few  half  starved  cattle  and  trifling  quantities  of  flour, 
which  have  hitherto  been  picked  up  in  different  parts  of  the 
country. 

"  Your  soldiers  grumble  for  their  pay  ; — if  they  receive  it  they 
will  not  be  benefitted,  as  it  will  not  procure  them  the  necessaries 
they  stand  in  need  of.  Your  military  chest  contains  but  eleven 
thousand  paper  dollars.  You  are  indebted  to  your  troops  treble 
that  sum,  and  to  the  inhabitants  above  fifteen  thousand  dollars." 

To  such  a  state  of  affairs  there  could  be  but  one  end.  The 
Congress  struggled  hard  against  the  necessity  of  evacuating 
Canada.  On  the  17th  of  June,  1776,  they  resolved  that  an 
experienced  General  should  be  immediately  sent  into  Canada,  with 
large  powers  of  appointment  and  supervision,  and  they  directed 
General  Washinton  to  send  General  Gates  to  take  command  of  the 
forces  there.  Some  efforts  were  at  the  same  time  made  to  send 


18 

reinforcements  to  the  army.  On  the  llth  of  that  month.  Messrs. 
Chase  and  Carroll  had  attended  the  Congress  and  given  an  account 
of  their  doings  in  Canada,  and  of  the  state  of  the  army  in  that 
country.  This  account  appears  to  have  been  verbal. 

A  committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  causes  of  the 
miscarriages  in  Canada  reported  : 

"  That  the  enlistments  of  the  Continental  troops  in  Canada  have 
been  one  great  cause  of  the  miscarriages  there,  by  rendering 
unstable  the  number  of  men  engaged  in  military  enterprises,  by 
making  them  disorderly  and  disobedient  to  their  officers,  and  by 
precipitating  the  commanding  officers  into  measures  which  their 
prudence  might  have  postponed  could  they  have  relied  on  a  longer 
continuance  of  their  troops  in  service. 

"  That  the  want  of  hard  money  has  been  one  other  great  source 
of  the  miscarriages  in  Canada,  rendering  the  supplies  of  necessaries 
difficult  arid  precarious,  the  establishment  of  proper  magazines 
absolutely  impracticable,  and  the  pay  of  the  troops  of  little  use  to 
them. 

"  That  a  still  greater  and  more  fatal  source  of  misfortunes  has 
been  the  prevalence  of  the  small-pox  in  that  army ;  a  great 
proportion  whereof  has  thereby  been  usually  kept  unfit  for  duty." 

In  these  views  the  Congress  concurred. 

The  Congress  had  directed  that  a  printing  apparatus  and  hands 
competent  to  print  in  French  and  English  should  accompany  this 
mission.  Whether  the  apparatus  was  taken  is  not  clear ;  but 
Mesplet,  a  French  printer,  accompanied  the  Commissioners.  It 
was  found  easier,  however,  to  print  than  to  find  readers,  not  one 
in  five  hundred  being  able  to  read.  The  priests,  who  monopolised 
all  the  learning  and  most  of  the  intelligence  of  the  French 
population,  had  been  prudently  conciliated,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
the  British  government.  In  reference  to  their  failure  to  make  an 
impression  with  the  documents  and  addresses  that  were  printed, 
Dr.  Franklin  remarked  that  if  it  were  intended  to  send  another 
mission  it  should  be  composed  of  schoolmasters ;  in  connection 
with  which  it  may  be  observed  that  the  incursions  of  Yankee 
schoolmasters  into  Canada,  armed  with  school  books  inculcating 
republican  sentiments,  has  been  a  source  of  complaint  with  the 
most  loyal  of  the  Canadians  for  the  last  twenty  years. 

General  Gates  took  command  of  the  remains  of  the  army,  which 
he  collected  at  Ticonderoga.  A  naval  engagement  on  Lake 
Champlain  followed,  in  which  the  American  fleet,  commanded  by 
Arnold,  was  compelled  to  fly  before  a  superior  force  under 
General  Carlton.  Arnold  ran  his  vessels  on  shore,  landed  his  men 
and  burnt  his  little  fleet.  This  was  the  closing  scene  of  the 
invasion  of  Canada,  which  had  opened  with  such  high  prospects  of 
success. 


19 

Dr.  Franklin,  when  assisting  in  preparing  the  treaty  of  peace  at 
Paris,  was  very  desirous  that  Canada  should  be  given  up  to  the 
United  States.  "  He  said,"  observed  Mr.  Sparks  "there  could  be 
no  solid  and  permanent  peace  without  it  ;  that  it  would  cost  the 
British  government  more  to  keep  it  than  it  was  worth  ;  it  would 
be  a  source  of  future  difficulties  with  the  United  States,  and  some 
day  or  other  it  must  belong  to  them ;  and  it  was  for  the  interest  of 
both  parties  that  it  should  be  ceded  in  the  treaty  of  peace.  Yet 
he  did  not  think  it  proper  to  urge  such  a  cession  as  a  necessary 
condition  of  peace,  especially  since  Congress  had  forborne  to 
instruct  the  Commissioners  on  this  subject,  and  since  there  was  no 
claim  on  France  by  the  treaty  of  alliance  to  sustain  such  a  demand, 
as  the  pledge  in  that  treaty  was  only  to  insure  the  Independence 
of  the  old  thirteen  Colonies,  and  Canada  was  not  one  of  them." 
Mr.  Oswald,  one  of  the  British  Commissioners,  "in  his  conversations 
with  Dr.  Franklin,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  Canada  should  be 
given  up  to  the  United  States,  and  said  that  when  he  mentioned  it 
to  the  ministers,  though  they  spoke  cautiously  they  did  not  express 
themselves  as  decidedly  opposed  to  the  measure.  It  was  not 
pressed,  however,  by  the  American  Commissioners,  and  it  would 
not  seem  to  have  been  much  dwelt  upon  in  the  subsequent  progress 
of  the  negotiation." 

Two  attempts  have  been  made  to  wrest  Canada  from  the  British 
government  by  force  of  arms:  both  have  failed.  Yet  the  adoption 
of  Canada  into  our  family  of  confederated  states  is  now  a  more 
probable  event  than  it  was  at  the  most  prosperous  period  of  either 
of  our  wars  with  Great  Britain.  The  people  of  that  Province 
have  long  been  watching  with  interest  the  progress  of  the  United 
States,  and,  finding  no  sufficient  explanation  in  climate,  soil  and 
productions  for  the  great  difference  between  that  progress  and 
their  own,  they  have  been  led  to  regard  the  different  forms  of 
government  as  the  main  cause.  The  mission  of  the  schoolmaster 
has  been  doing  its  work. 

The  English  government  must  soon  begin  to  perceive,  as  the 
people  have  already  done,  that  Canada  costs  them  more  than  it  is 
worth,  and  that  in  the  event  of  its  independence  they  would  still 
have  the  Canadians  for  their  customers,  and  to  a  much  larger  extent 
than  at  present. 

To  the  people  of  the  United  States,  Canada  would  be  welcome 
now  as  in  1776.  Practically  the  Union  is  no  larger  to-day  than 
during  the  revolution,  such  changes  have  been  made  in  the  facilities 
of  travel  and  communication  from  one  extreme  to  the  other.  The 
The  news  of  the  surrender  of  Charleston  (S.  C.)  was  a  month  in 
reaching  Philadelphia  by  express.  In  less  time  we  now  hear 
from  California.  With  our  beautiful  system  of  the  division  of 
power  between  the  general  and  the  state  governments,  it  would  be 


20 

difficult  to  say  whether  the  North  American  Union  can  ever  be 
too  large. 

To  the  Canadians,  our  system  presents  one  striking  advantage. 
The  struggle  between  the  two  races  that  has  been  going  on  for 
years  would  be  at  once  and  forever  terminated  by  the  admission 
of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  as  two  States.  Thereafter  the  internal 
concerns  of  each  would  be  managed  as  would  best  suit  its  own 
interest,  and  there  would  be  no  more  reason  for  heartburnings 
between  the  British  of  Upper  Canada,  and  the  French  of  the 
Lower  Province,  than  there  now  is  for  ill-feeling  between  the 
descendants  of  the  French  settlers  in  Louisiana,  and  those  of 
English  origin  in  Mississippi  or  Arkansas.  A  generous  rivalry 
which  should  make  the  most  progress  in  civilization,  learning,  and 
material  improvement,  would  succeed  the  senseless  yet  bitter 
animosity  of  race. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHJCH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWAIS  ONIY-TEL  NO.  642-3405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below  or 

Ren      JKdudBtet° Which  **»e*£L  '    * 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall 


>  0  1963 


LD21A-60m-3,'70 
(N5382slO)476-!-A-32 


5040 / 
BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


M18G629 fc 


i  /.. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


